Film Noir HoF - Part 2

The Killers

pretty good, but left me a little colder than i was hoping. it obviously looked great and i've read some comparisons to welles, which i can understand, but i think the images of welles have far more depth and expressiveness. would've liked to see lancaster get a bit more to do, but ava gardener was excellent. the main dude was pretty dull, but he was fine overall i guess. maybe on another day i would've got more out of this, but i still liked it.

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letterboxd
criticker

CR, have you read the book by Raymond Chandler? I definitely recommend it. I'm actually re-reading it now. I meant to pick up The Long Goodbye off the bookshelf, but when I got to work (where I do most of my reading), it was The Big Sleep. What the heck. It's not like you can keep the plot straight in your mind for very long. There's a few things in the book that are only obliquely hinted at in the film, such as the naked pictures and the gay relationship between the book seller and the young guy. Once I'm done with the book, I'll rewatch the movie.

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Kap, no I haven't read the book, I'm not much of a book reader...But I bet it's a good read! It seems like Raymond Chandler would be the kind of writer one could kick back and relax with, while being entertained by his witty repartee.

I had read online that the book hinted that the Geiger book store was a front for pornography and the reason Carmen was in a Chinese style dress, was for some nudie pics. I know that doesn't make sense today, but with the Hays Code I guess it did?

I love the movie, and I have to say I like the 1946 version much better than the 1945 version (but it's cool that it still exist). Once you have watched The Big Sleep, pop in and let's here your thoughts on it

Damn... We should create a Ultra-Noir HoF to place this!
Even if the type of story: "young woman makes old man to fall in love with her so she can make easy money" is one that has been told countless times, Frtiz Lang presents it here in quite an unique way that still feels fresh after all these years! During the first 20 minutes I was not convinced, then the story got really interesting and became better and better and then the last 20 minutes are simply stunning!

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The acting is great from the leading trio and the directing is superb from one of the greatest, and perhaps most underrated, masters of the cinema history.

How's everybody doing on watching the nominations? The deadline is coming up pretty soon, Sept 27th, is everybody going to be able to make it?

I will make it. I have the last two movies on DVD. Just need to watch them.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Night of Hunter just for me. Easy

I have watched The Killers and I'll post my thoughts soon, have only Kansas City and Big Sleep left! I'll do it this week!

I don't remember The Big Sleep well. It's next on my DVD queue so next weekend.

I am done. So, no worries there with finishing. I just know I haven't been able to say anything about the films yet. I will try to get to that sometime this week.

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I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity - Edgar Allan Poe

Night of the Hunter

Saved my nomination for last this go around. I really think it is a supremely made film from a technical scale, one of the better film director debuts in my opinion. The river scenes really stand out. The cinematography in the film is exceptionally done. The score is both haunting and spectacular. Robert Mitchums performance as the preacher is one of the better villainous roles in film history. I do agree that the story could have used some fine tuning, but that is just a minor fault in an otherwise great film!



That will do it for me. I will send my list today.

i watched kansas city confidential and the big sleep today and i enjoyed the both. i preferred the latter but they were both fun and well-made and so carefully plotted. the way bogart commands the screen is really something.

Finished all the noms! Making the list to this one will be incredibly hard! So many amazing movies! Judging by the quality of the two first Noir HoFs we definitely should do more of these!


I have seen the 1964 remake of this with Lee Marvin and Cassavetes and I enjoyed it! This one though, is on a another level!
Watching a young Burt Lancaster performing it's a joy to behold, the man is one of the greatest actors of his generation and I can't help feeling I've been overlooking him!
The story is pretty much the same as in the remake, though told from a slightly different angle! However, I still felt puzzled during this and amazed by the finale and that tells how good is the direction and the pacing of all this! The cinematograhy is superb and the femme fatale is one of the best I've ever seen!


I loved the script of this one! The story is really interesting and the suspense is continuous! The bad guys are great, especially a young Lee van Cleef, cool as always, but I especially loved the performance of Kevin Spacey.. I mean John Payne (aren't they really really similar??).
I had some problems believing the love story, as it developed way to quick and the ending left me a bit unsatisfied but apart from that, is a terrific movie!



Great one! Probably just became my favourite Bogart perfomance! I didn't quite like him on The Maltese Falcon because his character required him to be a bit more than the cold and cool guy he's good at being!
Here, he fits in his character like a glove! The amount of cool one liners he delivers is insane and the way he just takes over each scene his in, it's astonishing!!! The story is quite complex too filled with twists and turns which makes it hard to follow but extremely enjoyable!
I loved all the girls involved (I wish I could have seen more of the library girl, she was something).

Kinda a slow start for me. But WOW what an ending! Rise and fall of arrogance and power.

I know what you mean all of these noirs are great in their own way! Yup, one day I would like to do Noir Hof Part 3.
I swear Bogie was like a 1940s version of James Bond in The Big Sleep. I mean wherever he goes beautiful women throw themselves at him...and he's Bond cool. I wouldn't be surprised if the author of the James Bond 007 novels, Ian Fleming had been inspired by The Big Sleep. Ian's first 007 novel came out in 1953, only 6 years after The Big Sleep came out.

I got that^^DVD from Netflix and will probably watch it tonight.

Cricket, if you have the time, flip the DVD over and watch the other version of The Big Sleep. You should have the original unreleased version on one side and the theatrical release on the other. At least I hope that's what Netflix has?

And while you're watching it, see if you don't think of Bogie as being like James Bond in it.

I haven't looked at it yet, but which is the preferred?

I saw it 20 years ago but don't remember it well.

The theatrical release is the better version and if you only get one version that's what you'll get.

I remember thinking exactly that while I was watching this! Bogie would make an exceptional Bond, probably better than Connery!